Great vacation to Desolation Sound this year. Went a little later than we usually do. Result was better weather, but more crowded anchorages.

Stopped in at Westview on the way up this year (Powell River) It's been a few years since we've been in there. New docks and harbor office. Nice showers and laundry facilities. The pink house boat is gone. Heard the story about its demise from Dave the harbormaster.

Spent most of our time at Roscoe Bay. Here we're anchored near the head of the bay close to the trail to the lake (sailboat far right stern tied)

While we were there, another sailnet member came paddling by and asked if there was any salmon for dinner. It's an inside joke with Mr. and Mrs. Faster, as we've bbqed two salmon with them on past trips, both I over cooked. Faster and his group were rafted up over at the falls:

Went on a hike to the top of a nearby hill for a view. There's a water jug up there in a rock stack that folks write their names and date of their climb. We did the same:

Here's the view:

Played around in the shoal separating the outer bay from the inner bay. This shoal drys around a Canadian zero tide. I enjoy snorkeling and wading this shoal to look at the critters:

Some of the seaweed in the shoal area:

Hosing off over at the little water fall after a snorkel:

My son and I have been building rock stacks near the shoal for the past 12 years or so, just for fun. I think others do it as well, as there are almost always rock stacks as you come in through the shoal:

Met up with JRD22 over in Melanie Cove. I bbqed a salmon for dinner. Didn't over cook this one. You missed out Faster. Here we're anchored near the head of the bay:

Had two great sails on the way back down. Out of Pender Harbor, we had 15 to 20 apparent on our nose. We beat down Malispina, passed up two other boats that were sailing. Then we headed across the Strait of Georgia where we passed up a Valiant 40 that was motoring directly into the wind and chop. We sailed a bit off the rhumbline and beat him across. That was cool. We beat down Trincomalie Channel from Pirates Cove to Montague, passing up three other boats that were sailing. We caught up to one on one tack and then passed him on the second tack. He pulled down his sail and started motoring after we passed him. Here are a bunch of boats ahead of us after going through Dodd Narrows. We typically go after the slack to miss the circus right at slack water.

In Nanaimo, we saw some cool rock stacks. We heard a native family talking about them. They called them Ihn-nook-chuck, or something like that. Said it meant that there was water around or just "I was here". Here is one:

Some new art displayed around Nanaimo water front made out of scrap metal:

Saw some cool mushrooms:

Squirrel Cove had a diesel spill after an old fishing boat sunk. Coast guard was in and out a couple of times but no boom had been deployed to contain the fuel leak. We heard radio traffic from yachties that were not happy about it. We were there the morning of the spill and left. No need to smell fuel oil on vacation.

Ray,
I may well have asked this question before, if so pardon my poor memory but I'm presuming August is prime season for the PNW, vacation period I guess and there are an awful lot of other boats. What is it like July and/or September ?

Andrew, we usually head up the first part of July. The weather is usually pretty good, but we can get our rainy periods as well. Last year was one of those years. We had family drive up and spend a week with us and it rained the whole week they were there. The boat got pretty small pretty quickly. When we pull into our favorite spot in early July, there are typically less than a dozen boats. When we pulled in this year, (late July) we counted 30 boats. Our September weather in the San Juans is usually pretty good, although it really cools down over night and you can run into fog as well. I haven't been up into Faster and Bilgewater's neck of the woods in September. I'd really like to make an off season trip up there to find out though.

Great post Ray.. Nice shots. We're sorry we missed the fish feed (not that the others weren't fine!!) Just missed John too.

This summer was OK so far, some heat but a lot of cloud and much more persistent SE winds, unlike the NW'lies that settle in if the summer high parks in the Gulf of Alaska. If you're timing is good you can sail downwind both ways (never works out for us, of course)

I haven't been up into Faster and Bilgewater's neck of the woods in September. I'd really like to make an off season trip up there to find out though.

I think September is the best month. A little more wind, far far fewer vessels, less radio chatter and the weather is usually nice. I find the August heat a bit extreme but it's nice. I also like October.

Nice post Ray
That shoal in Rosco Bay...is that the one you got stuck on a while back or was that someone else.
Sorry we missed you this time.

Erps, Bilge, Fast .... hey any of you PNWers .... not specifically after anything in particular but what is the charter situation if e.g one wanted to explore up to Desolation Sound area ? It seems to me to be an area requiring a fair bit of local knowledge or at least more experience than is required to cruise in the more touristy areas so I was wondering if a charter (bare boat) industry even exists.

Andrew...I didn't know Sunsail was around here. Most people that I run into use Desolation Sound Yacht Charters It's a local company and I have never heard anything bad about them.

As far as local knowledge goes, it helps quite a bit but I wouldn't say it's necessary. Desolation Sound isn't too bad/tricky to figure out as it's well charted. Beyond Desolation Sound heading north and into the inlets and through the various rapids definitely helps with local knowledge but having said that, "Sailing Directions" is the bible for this and pretty much has everything required. As a matter of fact it is a requirement to carry this Canadian Govt. publication on the vessel along with the paper charts of the area your in. I like the "Dreamspeaker" and the "Douglas and Hemingway" cruising guides but again "Sailing Directions" is the key along with a good tide/current table.

I think Erps knows Roscoe Bay like it was his back yard, I've only been in there once that I can remember.

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